


Letters From a Dead Girl

by Rainboq



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Storm in Arcadia Bay (Life is Strange), Angst and Feels, CW: Suicidality, F/F, No smut until everyone is 18, Romantic Fluff, uhaul lesbians
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:20:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25792003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rainboq/pseuds/Rainboq
Summary: Chloe wrote Max a bunch of letters that were never sent, until Joyce found them.
Relationships: Maxine "Max" Caulfield/Chloe Price
Comments: 34
Kudos: 70





	1. Dear Max

**Author's Note:**

> A brief note: if you're feeling suicidal, please get help. It's not the answer.

Chloe’s dead.

Chloe’s been dead for five years at this point; ever since she lost the two people who made up her life.

Except she was maybe sorta not dead when Rachel was around. Maybe.

But Rachel’s gone now, and so she’s shuffling through life. A corpse on borrowed time before this shit pit of a town swallows her whole. Just like it did Dad.

She kicks a pebble between the railroad ties as she walks, whatever air she does breath acrid from cigarette smoke. Every breath burns anyways. 

She sees the train coming. The drivers all know her now, they don’t bother with the brakes when they sound the horn anymore. Maybe this time she’ll accept her death and eat a coupler to the face.

She steps out of its path, like a coward. Just the usual.

What’s she waiting for?

For Max probably.

Max who’s never coming back.

Max who never bothered calling and barely bothered emailing and texting. 

So much for still being Max and Chloe, even when apart.

And so she’s just a corpse to be, waiting for the end to come.

She puts up posters of Rachel because what else is she going to do? She can only kill time until her end comes.

Unless she does everyone a mercy and stops waiting.

Her internal voice keeps telling her that she’s too much of a coward to do that.

And so she shambles through life, toking, smoking, drinking and fucking perfect strangers until that end finds her.

And yet, she still hopes Max will come and find her, bring the spark of life back to her.

It’s pathetic really, and yet she endures, because she can’t disappoint Rachel who probably had enough and ran off to LA. She can’t disappoint her mom who ignores the abuse David lavishes upon her. And she can’t disappoint Max.

So she keeps sucking in air and food.

Her stomach reminds her that it’s time to do the second thing.

Which means going home.

She drives her shitty junker truck home. (How it’s even street legal she doesn’t know.)

Without even a shout that she’s home she steps through the doorway. It’s not home anyways, it stopped being home when Joyce brought a drill sergeant home, it’s just the place she eats and sleeps.

“Chloe?”

She closes her eyes, rubbing her temples. She doesn’t need a lecture from her mom or Sergeant Asshole. What’s the use of lecturing a dead girl anyways? “Oh, hey Joyce.”

“So, I found some letters in your room.”

Something crawls up her spine and her feet are rooted in place on the stairwell. “Why were you in my room?”

“It smelled like something died in there, so I cleared out your garbage and did some of your laundry.”

Boundaries stopped being a thing with the creature from bootcamp lagoon, but Joyce usually stayed out. She feels her hackles rise from beneath the dirt, anger prickling up her spine. “And so what, you started snooping?”

She can hear the sigh, even if Joyce doesn’t actually make one. “No, they were in a box that fell on me when I was hanging up your jacket.”

“… Did you read them?”

“I mailed them.”

Her blood is caught between boiling and freezing. The hair on the back of her neck stands on end while rage bubbles in her belly. She wheels around to lock eyes with Joyce, who’s standing there at the bottom of the steps. “You  _ WHAT?!” _

Joyce just shrugs. “Well she ain’t gonna respond to them if you don’t send them, now will she?”

A ball of panic starts rising in her gut and she grips the railing to steady herself. “I-I… They weren’t supposed to be sent!”

“And if she does get back to you?”

_ I’ll feel alive again. _ “She won’t.”

Joyce just smirks.

Her heart is pounding in a way it hasn’t since Rachel touched her last. “When did you send them?!”

“’bout a week ago.”

Chloe’s eyes boggle as she stares at her mom, her breathing growing short and quiet. “W-what? YOU’RE TELLING ME NOW?!”

Her mother’s smirk widens into a smile and she holds up an envelope. Chloe blinks a few times, waiting for the letter to disappear. “’cause there’s mail for you now.”

Chloe snatches the letter from her mom’s hands and races up the stairs into her room. The thoughts of yelling at her mom over the invasion of privacy long gone.

Her hands tremble as she carefully opens the envelope with a knife and slides its contents out onto her desk. The paper is thick and rigid, something bought special from a stationary shop. It’s such a  _ Max _ touch that she has to fight tears down. When she notices some water stains on the letter itself, she loses that fight. Max’s handwriting is there, still neat and clear as ever, despite how blurry her vision is.

Dear Chloe,

I don’t know how to say I’m sorry in a way that’s good enough for you. I think that’s part of why I was so shitty at staying in touch. Nothing felt good enough for you that wasn’t being there, and that wouldn’t have made up for having left in the first place. When I got your letters, I finally understood just how badly I fucked up, I didn’t get how badly you just needed me to be there. I kept thinking that I had to be perfect for you and be there for you in ways I didn’t know how but that wasn’t true. You just needed me to be there and be me, and I’m so so so so so so so sorry I didn’t get that and I didn’t do that. I thought you must hate me, and I guess you sorta do, which is what makes this easier. I deserve your hate, I deserve you not wanting to talk to me. I spent days crying after I got your letters because I deserved it. You just wanted your best friend and I thought I had to be some kind of therapist that I was too scared to try and be.

Life without you has been hard but I can’t imagine how much harder you had it, even with your letters. I know I can’t make things up to you, but I want to try, you deserve that much at least. My number hasn’t changed, if you want, you can call me whenever. I’ll pick up, I promise. You know me, I don’t know how to have a social life. And if you’ll have me, I’m going to be back in Arcadia Bay soon. I just got accepted into Blackwell Academy for their photography program and I’ve been trying to find a way to tell you, so here it is. I don’t know if I would have had the guts to tell you if I hadn’t gotten your letters, as majorly shitty of me as that is. You’re probably such a badass now, all kicking ass out there and I’m still just me.

Your friend, if you’ll have me,

Max Caulfield

The letter falls from her hands as she scrambles to get her phone out of her pocket, barely pausing to wipe her wet face and running nose with her forearm. Her fingers move in a blur to find Max’s contact before hitting dial.

It rings once.

“Come onnnn.”

Twice.

“You promised.”

Thrice.

“Hello?”

Her gut knots at the voice. The one she’d waited so many long years to hear. Her own voice is a mangled mess as tears flow freely from her eyes. “Max?”

Her old friend’s voice immediately goes soft and cracked. “Oh Chloe…”

“I-I missed you so much…”

“I missed you too, I’m so fucking sorry.”

“Is… Is what you said for real? You’re coming here?”

“Yeah, move in is at the end of this month.”

Chloe bites down on her lip for a moment.  _ Shit, can I wait that long? I wanna see her fucking NOW. _ “It’ll be good to have you back here…”

“I should have come to visit, I’m such an idiot.”

“What?! No! Dude, it would have been majorly depressing to come visit… I should have, like, come up there and visited you when I got my truck running.”

“Wait, you’ve got a truck?”

“Fuck yeah dude, I fixed her up myself.”

“That’s seriously awesome Chloe!”

“Thanks…”

Max sighs over the phone. “I should have called you like… five years ago.”

“Better late than never.”

“… Yeah.”

There’s a shuffle on Max’s end of the receiver. “Crap, I gotta go, my parents are taking me to go see Elysium.”

“Heh, didn’t think sci-fi was your thing.”

“Dude, District 9 was amazing, totally your kind of movie.”

“We’ll have to watch it when you get here then.”

“Totally, I’ll… call you tomorrow?”

“Damn right you will!”

There’s some soft laughter on Max’s end. “Alright… Bye.”

“See ya.”

The line clicks dead and for the first time in a long time Chloe’s heart thunders in her chest and her lungs are full of sweet, sweet air and she’s  _ alive _ again.

She can’t let go of that feeling.

She should go visit, surprise Max.

She scrambles to grab the envelope and reads the address off of it. Google Maps knows the way.  _ God Max is going to freak! _ She races downstairs and grabs her dinner out of the fridge. Her leg bounces incessantly while she sits on the counter waiting for the microwave. The time between the ding and food entering her mouth could be measured in milliseconds as she stuffs her face as fast as humanly possible while standing in the middle of the kitchen.

It's only when she finishes eating does she notice Joyce sitting at the kitchen table, her face the picture of bemusement. Chloe freezes up and clears her mouth. “Uhhh, thanks mom.”

“Don’t mention it. I reckon the letter was good news?”

Chloe nods vigorously, her body itching to be on the road already. “Yeah, I’m… going to go visit her now.”

Joyce snorts and nods. “I don’t think I could stop you if I tried. If your rolling wreck breaks down give me a call, ya hear?”

Chloe’s already bolting for the door. “ThanksmomIloveyoubye!”

It’s three hours later on the road to Seattle that Chloe realizes that she should have packed a change of clothing.

Or a toothbrush.

Or much of anything really.

But none of that matters because she can actually feel her heart thundering in her chest and breathing doesn’t feel like a chore. Her skin crackles with sensation, her mind alive with possibilities.

_ I fucking have Max back, holy shit. _

Her truck is behaving at least, she only had to pull off the road due to overheating once and the interstate is blissfully quiet.

When she hits up a gas station across state lines, it occurs she  _ probably _ should have asked if it was okay for her to come visit. What was that saying Rachel had? Fortune favours the bold?

Max’s voice is bleary and a half yawn when she answers the phone. “Mnh-Chloe? What… What time is it?”

She hopes the sound of her bouncing foot isn’t picked up by the microphone. “It’s like… 3.”

“Why are you calling me at 3am?”

“’cause I need someone to open the door and let me in, it’s kinda cold out.”

“Wait, WHAT?”

Chloe can’t keep her smile under control as she hears muffled thumping through the speaker, then the door flies open and there stands Max, in all her pajama clad glory.  _ Holy fuck, how did Max get so cute?! _ “Hey hippie, did ya miss me?”

Max’s eyes are wide with shock and she doesn’t move for a few heartbeats before Chloe suddenly finds herself enveloped in a bone crushing hug. “I missed you so much.”

Chloe returns the hug and they hold each other for a few precious moments. Her hollow chest is alive with butterflies and tingling. “I missed you too, dork.”

Max sniffles softly and squeezes her tighter for a few moments before pulling back. “I - uh - love the blue hair… Wait, how did you find me?”

“Thanks, and you put a return address on the envelope.”

Max’s face flushes slightly before she nods. “And you just had to come visit?”

Chloe runs a hand through her hair, fidgeting a little bit. “Well… Er, I didn’t want to wait.”

Max’s face goes even redder. “You missed me that bad?”

“Can… we talk about this in your room? It’s kinda hella cold out here.”

When Max’s parents find them in the morning, they’re still talking. Ryan knocks on the door. “Hey Max? We heard some commotion last night, are you okay?”

Max’s head jerks up from its position on Chloe’s lap where she’d spent the past hour venting about how shitty Seattle was. “Oh! I’m fine, pops.”

Ryan poked his head in the door and froze up when his eyes found Chloe. She shot him a wink and a lopsided smile. “Hey Mr. C, been a while.”

His eyes narrowed for a moment before widening in recognition. “Chloe?!”

Max giggles and nods. “Yup! She got my letter last night and apparently couldn’t wait for me to move down there.”

Chloe ruffles that lovable brown mop on Max’s head. “Whaaaat, I wanted to see my best friend again… Assuming, you’re, uh, cool with that Mr. C.”

Ryan laughs that deep, brassy laugh of his. “Of course it’s alright, I’ll go tell Vanessa, she’s gonna be floored.”

Just visiting turned into staying the weekend. As for the best friend bit…

It’s late Sunday evening, and Max’s fingers are tracing the intricate lines of her tattoo in the peaceful quiet of the night. Whatever movie they’d queued up on her laptop and watched long forgotten as they just lay in bed together. The distance that was between them having vanished over the weekend. Chloe’s skin prickles under Max’s featherlight touch, her chest full of electric thrill at her closeness. She glances over at the stack of polaroids cluttering Max’s desk, awaiting selection for Max’s photo wall. Max hadn’t been able to take her camera off her all of Friday up until they’d both crashed from exhaustion just catching up and figuring out who the other person was now. Saturday had been the second verse, same as the first, just with various Seattle landmarks in the background.

_ And now we’re here, practically cuddling.  _ She’d never felt this alive before, Rachel had thrilled her, sure. She’d brought her from a complete zombie to a half-awake human.

Max though…

_ Shit and I thought I had a crush on her before she moved… Should I tell her? _

Her eyes flicked down to Max, who was still intently tracing the lines of her ink, her finger slowly moving it’s way up her bicep. The look of reverent fascination on Max’s face sends a tingle racing up her spine. She knows that look because it’s probably the one she makes when she’s counting Max’s freckles.

_ What if Max feels the same way? _

_ Shit, what if she doesn’t? _

_ I don’t want to lose her, not again. _

_ Would I though? _

_ FUCK. _

Max’s finger circles over a butterfly by her shoulder, those beautiful blue eyes flick up to meet her own and a soft, quiet smile emerges on those suddenly very soft and inviting lips.  _ Shit, when did my palms get so sweaty? _ She manages to croak out. “Something on your mind Maxinator?”

Max sighs sweetly, her voice a reedy whisper. “Just… how much you’ve changed…”

She can’t resist the urge to flirt, there’s just something magnetic pulling her to Max. “Like what you see?”

Max shuffles a little bit closer in the bed, her voice still a warm whisper. “… Yeah, a lot.”

_ Fuck it, this is my shot. _ “In that case… I, uh, dare you to kiss me.”

Max blinks uncomprehendingly. “What?”

The building thrill in Chloe’s chest threatens to burst out in a bolt of lightning. “I double dare you, kiss me now.”

When their lips meet it’s a complete and utter shock. But there’s nowhere for her to go, with Max’s head above her as she rests in the bed, one hand tenderly cupping her cheek. It takes her a few moments to process that Max didn’t just peck her, but is actually  _ kissing _ her. Like full on  _ making out _ kind of kiss that she starts to return it, her own hand sliding up into Max’s hair as they lose themselves in each other for the rest of the night.

Chloe grunts as she hauls the last box out of the bed of her truck, passing it off to Ryan before sitting down on the tailgate. “There you are Max, last of it.”

Max’s smile is positively blinding as she slots in between Chloe’s legs and tugs her head down with a finger looped in her bullet necklace. The pair share a brief kiss before Vanessa gently coughs and they have to carry on with the business of moving her into the dorms. It takes a few back breaking trips, but between the four of them they successfully colonize the nearly empty dorm room with boxes and unassembled Ikea furniture without too much hassle. Max’s parents give both long hugs goodbye, and Chloe swears on everything she can think of that she’ll keep Max safe.

“Phew, I thought they’d never get out of our hair.”

Max leans against the wall with a soft groan. “I know, right? God and I thought I was the sentimental one.”

Chloe chuckles as she starts trying to figure out what box to start unpacking first. “Hey, at least they’re cool with us dating.”

Max laughs and leaves the wall to hug Chloe from behind. “Apparently they both owe Joyce something.”

Chloe laughs as well and runs her fingers over Max’s freckled arms. “Fucking figures they had a bet going… What do you want to unpack first?”

Max shrugs and presses herself into Chloe’s back some more. “I think that can wait until tomorrow…”

Chloe’s eyes go wide and she manages to kick the door shut before Max starts tugging her to the sole piece of furniture provided by Blackwell: the bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A huge thanks to [NocturnalOdyssey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NocturnalOdyssey/pseuds/NocturnalOdyssey) and [Eschi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/escherlat/pseuds/escherlat) for riffing on ideas with me and helping me come up with this concept, and to [Santa_Cruz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Santa_Cruz/pseuds/Santa_Cruz) for pushing me to write this.
> 
> And a big shout out to the people who betaed, my lovely Fiance, the ever wonderful [Blue](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluekip), [Santa_Cruz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Santa_Cruz/pseuds/Santa_Cruz), [DMMeeble](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DMMeeble) and [Eschi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/escherlat/pseuds/escherlat). Check out their stuff, it's all fantastic!
> 
> Now, my regular readers are probably thinking 'wait a tick, you're supposed to be on hiatus!' And yes, I still am. Writing anything longer than a one shot is slow going for me right now, but I'm slowly chipping away at new chapters because I'm going a little stir crazy. You might see more one shots pop up from time to time, but my hiatus isn't over until I announce it.
> 
> As always let me know what you think in the comments!


	2. Orientation Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max has orientation and Chloe has furniture to build.

_ I had sex with Max. _

Chloe stares up at the ceiling to Max’s dorm. She doesn’t know the time and she isn’t about to move her sleeping girlfriend to check it. There’s a thin sliver of golden light peeking in through the windows, accompanied by the warbling of songbirds. She reaches over with a free hand to brush a few errant strands of hair from Max’s face.

_ God, she’s fucking beautiful. We don’t talk for years, and not even a month later she’s naked and on top of me. _

She wants to kiss her forehead, but resists the urge. Instead she just watches her sleep and counts her freckles, basking in the warmth and the skin to skin contact.

_ Max loves me. She actually fucking loves me. _

Max murmurs something sleepily and shifts, her head turning to press her face into Chloe’s neck. Chloe breaths a gentle sigh of relief that she hasn’t woken up yet.

_ I just want to stay like this all day. _

She reaches up a hand and gently runs her fingers over Max’s messy hair, her mind casting back to all the wonderful things Max had told her in the afterglow. Those giggly declarations of love, her confessing that she’d been crushing on Chloe for ages, which turned out to be a huge part of why she’d been so afraid to stay in touch. She’d promised that she’d do her best to never be away from her again unless she had to. Those words had meant everything to her. So had that letter, their late night phone calls and occasional Skype calls.

Yeah, long distance had sucked, even if it hadn’t been for very long. Chloe ached just to be in the same room as her, to hear her voice next to her and just watch her doing whatever she was up to.

And Max had told her what she missed most was being able to touch her. Chloe hadn’t been able to avoid noticing just how  _ touchy _ Max was. At first she had wondered if it was just her making sure Chloe was real. But after sleeping together, Max had always needed to have some kind of contact with Chloe until they went to the bathroom to clean up. Then Max had asked if they could just cuddle naked, and who was Chloe to refuse?

_ I guess she really loves touching. I don’t mind, it’s kinda nice actually. _

Her eyes leave Max to wander around the dorm room, still filled with boxes, with a couple opened and rifled through for bedding and towels for their… festivities.

_ Fuck, it’s weird being back in these dorms again. I thought I was done with Blackwell, but with Max back here I guess not. _

_ I wonder what Rachel would say? I’m just glad that Max agreed to help me put up missing person’s posters on campus today. I hope me looking for her isn’t weirding Max out or anything. Shit, would she be jealous? I’m not about to drop her for Rach or anything, I just want to know she’s still breathing out there. _

Max gives a soft groan and starts to stir. Chloe can’t help but smile softly as Max’s head tilts back up at her, bleary eyes blinking into slow understanding. “Chloe?”

“Hey sleepyhead.”

Max’s dopey half awake expression transforms into a lopsided grin and a reedy laugh. “So it  _ wasn’t _ a dream.”

Chloe gives her own soft, teasing laugh. “Nope, your V-card is hella mine, Caulfield.”

Max’s giggle is so fucking cute that it makes Chloe’s heart soften, only to completely melt at her words. “There’s nobody I’d rather give it to .”

“Damn girl, when did you get so smooth?”

Max giggles some more, light and breezy as she shifts, her arms crossing over Chloe’s chest before she rests her chin on her arms. Chloe reaches up and brushes some more hair out of her face. “Since I had the girl I crushed on for years drive six hours in the middle of the night over one phone call and a letter.”

It’s Chloe’s turn to giggle.  _ Chloe Price, stone cold punk badass. Giggling. What a fucking world. _ “I would have gone a lot further for you.”

Max grins and lifts up to deliver a gentle kiss. “You’re such a dork, I love you.”

“Hey, I’m  _ your  _ dork.”

“And I’m yours.”

Max’s alarm starts blaring out and both girls groan before Max rolls off Chloe to stop it before standing up to stretch. In the early morning glow, Chloe actually gets a moment to really look at Max, and all the ways she’s grown up. She’s still Max in so many ways. Short, pale and with freckles splattered all over, but now she has curvature to her.. She even yawns and stretches in the morning the same way she used to when they had sleepovers, smacking her lips and rubbing her eyes. Except now she’s wearing nothing but a pair of borrowed boy shorts from Chloe.

Max turns and gives her a wry grin. “My eyes are up here.”

“Yeah I know. Just… been waiting to get a good look.”

Max’s bravado vanishes as she stiffens and her face goes so red. Not quite as red as when she’d first offered to send Chloe nudes, but close.  _ Totally taking her up on that when she’s 18. _

She shoots her a wink to help ease the embarrassment. “Fuck you’re gorgeous Max.”

The words make Max relax and she returns to the bed, her hands touching all over Chloe’s arms and chest as she returns to her spot nestled into her side. “You’re so beautiful. I want to just photograph you like this all day.”

Chloe runs her fingers through those brown locks as she presses a tender kiss home. They linger together, tongues finding one another and mingling as Chloe’s hand turns into a fist in her hair. The kiss stretches and stretches until Max makes a small moan and they break apart. “So why don’t you?”

Max’s face somehow gets redder and she shifts to move her heated body so she’s laying on top of Chloe. “Because then I’d have to stop touching you… a-and I have nowhere to put them.”

She lets out a low, husky laugh as she pulls Max into a lazy kiss. “God damn you’re a thirsty one, Caulfield.”

The teasing earns her a whine as Max peppers her face with kisses. “I can’t help it! I go from nothing to dating  _ Chloe Price! _ ”

Chloe snickers as she uses a thumb to tilt Max’s head to the side before blowing a raspberry on a big hickey she’d made the night before. She gets a squeal of laughter and Max squirms.

  
  


“Chloeeeee!”

She relents and the pair just laugh, overcome with a bad case of the giggles. Max recovers first, crawling up to kiss Chloe’s forehead. “You’re such a dork, I love you.”

“You’re one to talk,” Chloe teases as she kisses Max’s throat.

“Dog, I could just spend all day like this…”

“Buuuuut?”

Max sighs and buries her face into Chloe’s chest. “But I have orientation and then we need to finish unpacking, and build all the furniture.”

Chloe snickers and kisses the top of Max’s head. “Hey, you’re the one who went until her legs gave out.”

“H-hey!” Max whines, “It was my first time! I think I deserved to go until I dropped.”

_ You got a hell of a lot better of a first time than I did. _ “Thi-rsty! Damn Max, I think you’re going to wear me out before your birthday.”

Max grumbles and blows a raspberry on Chloe’s collarbone. “You’d better not!”

She pushes herself up, Max moving with her until Max is sitting her in her lap. She tilts that freckled face up with her thumb and their lips meet again. Max goes whole hog into it, pressing up and into Chloe. She can practically taste her need, how much she wants to just to have a repeat of the night before.

And as much as Chloe wants that, right now. She can hear the sounds of people starting to move in, the shuffling and thumping of students and parents shuttling boxes.

It kinda makes her want it more, but that’s definitely not the best way to introduce Max to her new classmates.

“Think you can be quiet?”

  
  


With a thoroughly bowlegged Max sent off to her orientation, Chloe gets sort of dressed in her jeans and bra.

_ Alright ikea furniture, prepare to get lesbianed. _

  
  


The Alan key slips from her sweaty fingers for the fiftieth time and she just loses it. “FUCK!”

Within moments there’s a gentle knock on the door and a soft voice calls in. “Is everything okay?”

It’s some time between opening the door and the poor girl’s face going completely red that Chloe remembers that she still had yet to put a shirt on. “Shit, sorry!”

She half closes the door and slips her body behind it while the other girl just kind of stammers for a few moments.  _ Shit, there might as well be steam flying out of her ears. _ “Er, sorry about that. I’m fine, I just keep dropping the damn Alan key.”

“I-i-it’s alright. Um… Are you Max Caulfield?”

Chloe’s head throws back as she laughs.  _ Oh god, can you fucking imagine. _ The short girl squeaks and shuffles backwards. “I-I guess not.”

“Nah, I’m Chloe, Chloe Price. I’m Max’s girlfriend.”

The girl’s face goes even redder. “O-oh. I-I guess I should go.”

“Hang on a sec, what’s your name?”

“Kate. I’m Kate Marsh.”

Chloe smirks and shoots her a wink. “Sounds good kit-Kate. I’ll let Max know you popped by and that I accidentally flashed you. Cool?”

_ Damn, it looks like she’s about to combust. _ “C-cool…”

“Thanks!” Chloe gently shuts the door and returns to building Max’s stupid fucking desk.

From outside she can hear the girl’s quiet voice once more. “… Kit-Kate?”

The rest of the day goes by smoothly, and soon Chloe has Max mostly moved in. She got a lot of practice doing it with Rachel. All that’s left is the posters and stuff, which she’ll help Max put up later.

Her stomach gurgles.  _ Yeah yeah, I need to eat. I heard ya. _

**[Chloe | 1:37 pm]**

finished building and unpacking

I’ll be @2whales for lunch

you in?

**[Max | 1:38 pm]**

I wish, they have us doing these stupid ice breaker things.

**[Chloe | 1:39 pm]**

i remember that shit

good luck

did you eat?

**[Max | 1:40 pm]**

No...

**[Chloe | 1:41 pm]**

grrrrr you better eat!

also do you know some girl named kate?

i kinda accidentally opened the door on her in my bra

**[Max | 1:42 pm]**

Fiiiiiine, I wasn’t hungry but I’ll eat anyways.

OMG YOU WHAT :O

That explains why she’s so red in the face around me!

**[Chloe | 1:43 pm]**

NO EMOJI!!!!

i said sorry! tell her i'll take you both out for lunch some day, my treat

**[Max | 1:44 pm]**

With what money?

**[Chloe | 1:45 pm]**

i start next week at big spin, so after my first pay

**[Max | 1:46 pm]**

She wants to know if you like tea, she says she can just have us in her dorm and we can do lunch later

**[Chloe | 1:47 pm]**

sure

driving, will let you know when i'm there

**[Max | 1:47 pm]**

Thanks!

  
  


The drive to the diner from Blackwell brings back many memories of Rachel, but she hopes she can blot them out soon with memories of taking Max there again. Just like the old days.

Once she’s parked, she sends Max her promised text before making a beeline for her usual booth. At 2pm on Labour Day it’s pretty empty and Joyce is there almost immediately with two mugs and coffee. “Hey mom.”

Joyce slides in across from her and pours the pair coffee. Chloe dumps sugar and cream into hers almost immediately. “So, moving Max in went well?”

She brings the coffee to her lips to try and hide the blush in her cheeks, but Joyce’s face turns into a knowing smile. After a sip that slightly scalds her lips she sets the mug down with a sigh. “Yeah, I got her stuff built and unpacked.”

“Lord, you always were sweet on her.”

“ _ Mooooom _ .”

Joyce laughs in a way that she’s barely heard since her dad died. “Oh relax, it’s not every day I get to tease you about dating Max.”

Chloe rolls her eyes and leans back into the booth with a groan. “Yes it is! You haven’t shut up since I got back from Seattle!”

Joyce keeps right on laughing and Chloe is  _ really _ happy that it’s just them and a couple of anonymous truckers. Not that other customers really stopped her since she got back.  _ My badass rep is totally ruined. _ “Just making up for lost time, dear.”

“Yeah, yeah. Thanks for the millionth time for sending them.”

Joyce snorts and slides out of the booth. “No need to be sarcastic. Now, extra bacon for helping Max out sound good?”

“Do you really need to ask?”

  
  


She watches the students milling around in the parking lot from the tailgate of her truck. Her fingers itch for a cigarette but she promised Max on that first weekend that she’d try and quit. The promise is a lot harder to keep with a stack of missing person’s posters for Rachel next to her. Finally she sees Max approaching. She’s about to wave, when she sees this guy standing next to her. She’s known Max long enough to recognize her discomfort. Her head is down, her shoulders are forwards and she’s got one arm crossed while she makes for the parking lot.

Except this  _ asshole _ isn’t letting her past.

Chloe fucking Price, to the rescue.

She grabs her beanie out of her jacket pocket and stuffs it on her head while she gathers up everything else she needs for the posters. Tape goes around her wrist, she tucks the posters under her arm and grabs the staple gun with her free hand before elbowing up the tailgate and hustling towards the beleaguered Max.

As she nears earshot, she starts to pick up snippets of what’s being said. Max isn’t saying much, it’s just the guy, blathering about old movies, a lot of which sound tasteless as hell.

“Yo, Max!”

Her head jerks up the timid, nervous grimace quickly transforms into a wide grin as she gives a wave. “Chloe!”

The guy twists and raises a quizzical eyebrow at her while backing off slightly as Chloe half runs to Max to give her a half hug with her free arm. Max’s arms wrap tight around her and she can feel the other girl sagging into her slightly.  _ Damn, this guy must really be getting her anxiety wound up. _

Chloe leans down and kisses the top of her head before saying loud enough that the guy is sure to hear. “Hey, I missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

Max lingers for a moment before pulling back to end up side to side with Chloe, an arm around her waist. With a slight grin Chloe wraps her free arm around Max’s shoulder, making sure that the staple gun is pretty visible.  _ That’s right fucko, she’s mine. _

The guy can’t even meet her gaze, instead he stays fixed on Max, his mouth just kind of hanging open. Max, of all people, breaks the silence.

“Warren, this is my girlfriend that I told you about, Chloe.”

Chloe half waves with the staple gun. “Yo.”

“Chloe, this is Warren, we met at orientation.”

Warren finally makes eye contact and there’s something about him that makes her uncomfortable.  _ Dude might just have no social skills. _

“Uh, hi. Nice to meet you.”

Chloe can feel the unspoken ‘I guess’.  _ Shit, was he trying to hit on Max? Fat fucking chance asshole. _ “Sup.”

Warren just kind of shrugs, looking like he’s caught between making himself the third wheel and going. Chloe waggles the staple gun. “You ready to put up the posters, Max?”

“Uh, I guess you’re busy Max. I’ll… catch you tomorrow?”

She can feel the hesitation when Max nods. “Y-yeah. I’ll see you history.”

He nods before walking away with what little chill he can muster. Once he’s out of eyeshot, Max practically collapses into Chloe. “Oh thank you so much.”

“What’s with the lamprey? He looks like sixteen.”

Max turns and gets up on her tiptoes to give Chloe a kiss on the lips, which lingers for a second. “I don’t know, he said something about skipping a few grades. I said that was cool and he just started following me.”

The eye roll comes naturally. “And let me guess, he didn’t buzz off when you mentioned you had a girlfriend.”

“No, he just kept talking like I hadn’t said anything.”

Chloe leans down to kiss Max’s forehead. “Well now he  _ knows. _ ”

Max grins up at her and catches her with a follow up kiss to the lips. “Oh yeah.”

“Still feeling up to putting these up?”

She catches the hesitation in Max’s eyes, but she still gets a nod. “Sure. Let’s do this.”

  
  


_ God it’s weird to be sneaking into these dorms again. _

David had cornered her while she’d been putting posters up outside the school while Max finished off the interior. He’d gone on his usual rigamarole about trespassing and being a good soldier.

Chloe actually managed to keep her tongue, if only to avoid him escalating and pretended to bid Max farewell before taking her truck out into the woods a ways and waiting until dusk.

It’s not like evading David is hard. He keeps to his patrol paths with the handful of guys who work the night shift. Their radios aren’t even encrypted. She was able to cobble together a headset out of stolen parts during Rachel’s senior year just to listen in to their checks.

Once David announces he’s making his rounds of the parking lot, she strikes, darting across the fair and into Max’s nervous but waiting arms.

They somehow manage to keep quiet until they’re in Max’s room, where they immediately descend into giggle fits like they did when they managed to sneak over as kids. But unlike kids the giggles turn into kisses, which turn into making out and then into much more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bet you weren't expecting this to update! To be fair, neither was I but then DMMeeble gave me plot bunnies and here I am turning a one shot into a long fic _again_.
> 
> Thanks to [LtDax](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LtDax), [ChasingVulpixels](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChasingVulpixels/pseuds/ChasingVulpixels) and [Bluekip](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluekip) for betaing.
> 
> Let me know what you think!


End file.
